Hillary Clinton: ‘Unfinished business’ for women

NEW YORK — Citing “unfinished business,” Hillary Clinton urged renewed work on women’s rights in the United States in her second major public appearance since leaving the State Department.

“Let’s learn from the wisdom of every mother and father who teaches their daughters there is no limit on how big she can dream or how much she can achieve,” Clinton said at the Lincoln Center as she kicked off the second day of the Women in the World conference in New York City. “This truly is the unfinished business of the 21st century and it is the work we’re called to do. I look forward to being your partner in all the days and years ahead. Let’s keep fighting for opportunity and dignity.”

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The context of her remarks was global equality — she invoked a phrase she’d used, to controversy, in Beijing when she was a first lady, that women’s rights are human rights. And she made no mention of politics, or specifically her own possible political future.

Daily Beast editor Tina Brown, who walked out with and introduced Clinton, mostly steered clear of the topic, too, though she teased: “The big question about Hillary is what’s next.”

But the excitement among the women in the crowd spoke to the subtext of the day: Clinton is widely seen as the prohibitive Democratic frontrunner in 2016 should she run. And among the reasons is the tantalyzing possibility of making history as the first female U.S. president.

It was Clinton’s second speech on women’s issues this week, and her second public talk since she left Foggy Bottom.

Clinton laid out the case for the work that still needs to be done on issues affecting women and girls globally, but also in the U.S., which she said must do more for women in order to maintain its status as a global leader.

“The fact is that for too many American women opportunity and the dream of upward mobility, the American dream, remains elusive,” she said, adding she thinks of “the extraordinary sacrifices” her mother made, and that it’s “hard to imagine turning the clock back on” the young women she’s met through her daughter, Chelsea.

“But in places throughout America, large and small, the clock is turning back,” she said. “We have work to do. … if America is going to lead the way we expect ourselves to lead, we need to empower women here at home to participate fully in our economy and our society.”